One Department, Two Great Programs: Civil and Mineral Engineering / Issue 12 / December 2011

The Civilian

Lassonde Mining BuildingOur New Design Studios are Second to None

Fond FarewellsProfs. Barry Adams and Phil Byer Retire

welcome

Cover: Students gather in our newlyopened design studios in the

Lassonde Mining Building. See the story on page 3.

Classes of CIV/GEO/MIN 8T7 and 0T2 – we’d love to continue ouroutstanding success of CIV/GEO/MIN winners for the Mid Careerand Early Career Alumni Awards! Please contact us if you or one ofyour classmates would make a great nominee.

We have some upcoming retirements. Professor Barry Adams andProfessor Phil Byer have both decided to retire on December 31!Please join me in extending to them our congratulations. I hopethat they don’t plan to go too far as we anticipate using their expertise for some time to come. Professor Will Bawden is in thelast year of his phased retirement plan. He was the Director of theLassonde Mineral Engineering program for over a decade, bringing excellence and strength to the program. I expect thathe’ll remain as or more busy in retirement. Thank you for yourdedication, Will.

A small sample of some of the exciting research going on:

Professor Brent Sleep is leading an inter-university collaborative team in a $3.2M research project! The objective is todevelop ways to treat some of the over 30,000 brown field sites inCanada that contain hazardous chemicals, such as chlorinated solvents and hydrocarbons.

Professors John Hadjigeorgiou and Paul Young of the Lassonde Institute for Mining are working with Professor Peter Kaiser ofLaurentian University and other researchers on a $2.2 Million project to develop wireless underground systems to help investors and engineers process minerals with increased speedand safety.

Did you hear Professor Doug Hooton, NSERC/CAC Industrial Research Chair in Concrete Durabilty and Sustainability, on CBC?He was interviewed by Connell Smith on the durability of concrete in salt exposure.

Our structures group is launching a new Centre for Resilience ofCritical Infrastructure! This exciting initiative is gaining momentum – you’ll hear more in future Civilians.

I’m very excited to say that we are finally kicking off the fundraising campaign for Survey Camp. Keep an eye out for a special mailing.

I am lookinf forward to seeing you all again at our CIV-GEO-MINAlumni Dinner on February 10th, 2011!

Brenda McCabePhD, PEng

Associate Professor & ChairDepartment of Civil Engineering

2 | The Civilian

he approximately $9 Millionrenovation of the newly

rededicated Lassonde MiningBuilding at the University ofToronto is now complete and ournewest facility is open!The project, which was funded byDr. Pierre Lassonde, Goldcorp, TheGovernment of Canada and theUniversity of Toronto, saw the massive unused attic portion ofthe edifice on College Street completely revamped and an addition placed atop its shiningnew rooftop.

Students can now enter the building via a gently sloping accessible ramp from the Westside. The door will take them tothe new atrium, a five storey vertical shaft built from the historic red brick of the building’sexterior.

A glass-sided elevator, secured

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via electronic chips distributed toall our students in their earlyclasses, will take students up theshaft while providing them with aview reminiscent of a heritagemine site.

This is underscored by the carefulplacement of minerals and miningtool specimens resting behindglass cases that overhang the elevator shaft and pass by the caras it travels upward.

Once at the top, graduate students will gain access to thesuite of state-of-the art private offices that line the north wall ofthe main wing.

Undergraduate students will findan airy studio with room for awhole host of collaborative projects.

The entire space is lit largely with

Lassonde Mining BuildingOpens Brilliant New SpaceNew loft style studios will change the way undergraduate education is delivered in our Department.

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Civilian Online

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4 | The Civilian

Read more on our websitewww.civ.utoronto.ca

ambient sunlight, owing to thebank of lightly etched sunroofson the South facing slope.

Ultra-low-energy LED lightinghelps when the Sun cannot provide.

Where once there were massivewooden beams spanning the unusable rooms at waist-height,now there are but memories: reclaimed wood from the trusseswas made into flexible furniturethat can be rearranged to suitany educational style.

Above, the beams now supporting the roof have beenreinforced with steel girders.

The historic signatures for whichthis space was famous – some signatures dating back to the1940s – have been preserved either in their original space oron a special tribute wall on theEast side – an ode to our alumniand their lasting presence inthese quarters.

Entering the North and Southwings of the facility, students willgain access to one or more of 10modular learning pods that each

sit approximately 10.

Movable walls that slide on trackscan be positioned to close offpods for private lessons, meetings or classes, and in a moment the walls can be openedup to combine pods into largerlearning environments.

The walls doubly serve as floor toceiling movable chalkboards.

The outer walls of each pod areequipped with banks of state ofthe art computers, as well as alarge display monitor that can beused to show videos, access theinternet, or make presentationsfrom a laptop or portable device.

The middle of each pod containsa series of moveable, connectabletables that can be used to conference or meet with a designteam.

Above all this sits the Goldcorp Innovation Suite, a brand newspace that sits like a gem atop theold roof structure of the building.

Overlooking the cityscape on allsides (and the photovoltaic panelson the south side of the building),

the Suite boasts advanced videoconferencing facilities thatlink students up with companiesand institutions all over the worldin a professional boardroom setting.

This new facility will revolutionizethe way we can deliver the undergraduate Civil Engineeringand Lassonde Mineral EngineeringPrograms as well as advance thenature of our top-notch graduateresearch.

We encourage you to come take alook at the marvelous impact ofthis wonderful gift.

Skylights fill the once dark attic with anatural ambient glow.

New events and featuresadded all month long

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The formerly dark attic spacethat was once blocked by

waist-high trusses and woodenbeams is now opened up into abright and airy loft area.

The open area can be used tohost design seminars groupmeetings or educational lessons.

Along the right side of the photo,a bank of graduate student offices provide semi-private, secure space for advanced research.

Part of the retrofit that makesthis project environmentally

friendly is the inclusion of new insulated skylights, which dramatically increase the amountof natural ambient light and reduce the need for electronic lighting options.

Direct, intense sunlight is avoidedthrough the use of lightly frostedscreens over the openings.

The North wing of the space ismade up of a series of pods

that can be connected or separated as the educationalneeds dictate.

The movable walls double as chalkboards.

Each pod contains a series of connectable work tables as well asan outer ring of workstation computers. A large presentationscreen illuminates any discussion.

The massive old beams ofwood that once kept the roof

atop the Mining Building are nowseamlessly integrated with a newset of steel girders.

The enhanced strength allowedus to open up the space dramatically.

Furniture provided in thespace may be reminiscent for

some alumni: it was made fromthe salvaged beams removedafter steel reinforcement.

We have spotted signatures andnotes scrawled across somebeams dating as far back as the1940s.

We have preserved as many ofthe signatures in the space as possible.

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news & views

6 | The Civilian

he Camp at Dorset was a staple of the Civil Engineering

program from the late 1940sthrough to the early 1990s, whenit was decided that it would bemore efficient to operate entirely out of the Gull Lake facility.

Though it is no longer in activeoperation, the memories ofDorset remain alive and well inour Alumni community – indeed,about half the class reportedthere during its 50-year lifetime!We want to honour those memories, and we’d like to builda Dorset memory wall as part ofthe Gull Lake campaign startingthis winter.

So, whether you rememberDorset for its good, plentiful food(including fresh pies, we’re told!),the kind forestry staff, the swimming or the canoes, let us

know your Dorset memories.

Perhaps you were there when the7T3s dangled someone over theedge of the fire tower to gettheir name proudly painted onthe side; perhaps you rememberfloating a VW out into the lake; orperhaps you look back proudly atyour reputation for being at thecamp that worked hard and didwell.

We want to hear about it all.

From Sue Joel (CIV6T5):

I was at the Dorset camp with theA to L part of my civil engineeringclass; the guys were in the mainbunkhouse while I, the onlywoman in the class, had a room inthe quarters of the femalekitchen staff.

The Forest Ranger School was

built by the Province of Ontario inthe early 1940’s to train rangers inforest management and firefighting.

It was a lovely site on a small lakewith a large acreage, and notnearly as rough as the other campat Minden.

Mind you, it did have its drawbacks, the principal onebeing that the Dorset area wascompletely dry and you had todrive the 50 km or so to Minden ifyou wanted to go drinking.

Which we did. Frequently.

I have fond memories of celebrating my 21st birthdaydrinking beer with my classmatesin the Dominion Hotel in Minden.

Some of the guys thought it wasnot as classy as the Rockcliffe, butI always liked the Dominion better.

We worked pretty hard in our sixweeks at survey camp but no-body minded. It was the high-light of our four years in Civil andI always felt sorry for those in theother engineering disciplines whodidn’t get to go to survey camp.

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Remembering DorsetFrom the 1940s to the 1990s, approximately 50 years of CivilEngineering students attended this camp. Help us honour thegreat memories by sharing your own!

Barry rewarded hard work and effort with extremely diligentand thoughtful reviews which,combined with the simplest of explanations for what appearedto be complex problems, madethe learning experience truly special. I look back upon my timein graduate school very fondly forit afforded me the luxury of timeand opportunity to explore andthink. I suppose in some respects,I never really “left” school and I attribute much of my continuingefforts at UofT to the experience Ihad with Barry Adams and manyof the other people in that community which I am happy tobe a part of. I look forward tomany more years of friendshipand collaboration post-retirement.

From myself, and on behalf of themany, many students that Barryhas influenced over the past 35+years, I offer my heartfelt thanksand best wishes.

Fabian Papa (CIV9T5, MASc 9T7)

news & views

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“Barry Adams ruined my life. He taught me how to think!”

This is how I started a recent tribute to Professor Adams at aconference held in his honourthis past September. While it wasmeant to lighten the mood,there is also quite a bit of truthbehind it.. Well, perhaps not the“ruining” part, but the point isthis: how I view and approachthe world today has been greatlyinfluenced by Barry.

Although I originally approachedBarry to work on an undergraduate thesis with him inthe field of stormwater manage-ment on the basis that it was oneof his areas of specialization, itwas such an enriching experiencethat it was a simple choice towork on a Masters degree underhis supervision and a very, very difficult choice to not pursue aPh.D. but rather enter practice.Interestingly, the general topic ofthe proposed Ph.D. research waswater utility privatization, a trendthat Barry was well ahead of thecurve on and which now is one ofmy areas of keen interest in pro-fessional practice.

A distant 18 years ago, I visitedthe University of Toronto to decide if I wanted pursue my PhDhere in Civil Engineering. I remember meeting many peoplethose few days but of course, Ispent much of my time talking toPhil, who would be my potentialsupervisor. He had arranged a fullday of activities - including lunchon Spadina (!) - for me to get asense of what the departmentand its people were like. When Ireturned home to Edmonton afew days later, he called to followup. It was Phil's sense of care thatimpressed me. What he might notknow is that when I stepped onthe plane to depart from PearsonAirport, I already knew that Iwould be returning to study atUofT.

I remember the four years I spentunder Phil's tutelage as some ofthe best years I have ever had,and some of the key years that really helped shape who I have become. Phil has been a teacher,a supervisor, a mentor, and a verygood friend. My own students appreciate how I treat them, and Iattribute much of how I act as aprofessor to how Phil treated me.You learn from example, and I had- and continue to have - one ofthe best examples there is.

Many people make the mistake ofequating a doctorate with intelligence and therefore wisdom: many have the intelligence, but wisdom is another matter entirely. It is wisdom that garners genuine respect and true admiration. Onthat note, thank you for everything Phil, and congratula-tions on a memorable, well-re-spected and wise career.

Edwin Tam (PhD 9T8)

Profs. Barry Adams &Phil Byer are RetiringThe two Professors have touched the lives of countless students over many years. Here are the thoughts of just twoon the occasion of their retirements.

8 | The Civilian

news & views

Five Winning AlumniOnce again our alumni took home the lion’s share of the Engineering Alumni Association Awards at the annual galaheld earlier this fall. Here are this year’s honoured alumni.

The Hall of Distinction is an assembly of extraordinary alumni,selected for membership by theirpeers for their lifelong accomplishments.

These are graduates whose performances have ultimately defined what is most exemplaryin our graduates and in our profession. The careers of themembers stand as examples andadd a sense of reality to the aspirations of successive generations of Engineering students.

Located in the Sandford FlemingBuilding, the Hall is a familiar dailypresence in the lives of studentsand is often visited by alumni andtheir families.

Michael Butt (CIV6T3)

Throughout his career, Michaelhas championed change in industry through the leadershiproles he held in several organizations.

As an undergraduate at U of T Engineering, while Michael participated on the engineeringfootball team and boxing, he alsodelved into what would be hisfirst of various entrepreneurialventures — starting and runninghis very own construction company.

Upon graduation, he joinedMitchell Construction in Toronto.Recognized for being tremendously business savvy, hewas transferred to Bridgetown,Barbados, to set up their

Hall of Distinction

Caribbean Group of Companies.Just two years later, he was promoted to Managing Director.

By 1969, he set up operations inSouth Africa. Ten years later, hestarted the Buttcon Limited. Bybringing strong business and engineering expertise to his operations, his company grewinto a $100 million per year entity, and continues to expandtoday. The company has completed many high profileprojects, such as the Queen’s Parkrestoration, Casino Niagara as wellas numerous institutions, including U of T.

He is also one of the two founding members of the Canadian Design-Build Institute(CDBI), has served on the CanadianConstruction Document Committee, and from 1996 to2004, he was Chairman of theBoard of Directors at GreaterToronto Airports Authority.Michael is proud of his engineer-ing background, as evidenced byhis membership with ProfessionalEngineers of Ontario (PEO) formore than 45 years.

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news & views

Lloyd McCoomb (CIV6T8, PhD 8T2)

Lloyd has consistently distinguished himself as a leaderin the engineering profession.

As a young professional, Lloydmade his mark at the World Bankby helping to develop a computer model to optimizeroad transportation investmentin developing countries.

From there, he moved to the Department of National Defencewhere he carried out a range ofengineering assignments at military bases across the country.

In 1973, Lloyd joined TransportCanada’s Transportation Develop-ment Agency, where he workedprimarily in the area of urbantransportation.

In 1983, a move to TransportCanada’s Air Administrationmarked the beginning of hisforay into the world of airports.

Working in Ottawa and Toronto,Lloyd moved from Director of Statistics and Forecasts to Director General of Airport

Marketing, then Safety and Technical Services and finally toProject Services Manager of MajorCrown projects.

In 1994, Lloyd took on his final assignment with TransportCanada as Airport General Manager of Toronto’s Lester B.Pearson International Airport,leading staff through their transfer to the private sector in1996.

From 1996 to 2007, Lloyd oversawthe planning, design and construction of a $4.4 billion airport modernization and expansion program as Vice President of the Greater TorontoAirports Authority (GTAA).

In 2007, Lloyd became the President and CEO of the GTAAand helped to create the strategic plan for Toronto Pearson to become the NorthAmerican airport of choice.

Aside from his countless profes-sional successes, Lloyd also servedin the Canadian Armed Forces. In2010, he was appointed HonoraryColonel of 32 Combat EngineerRegiment.

news & views

10 | The Civilian

Denis Mitchell(CIV6T9, MASc 7T1, PhD 7T4)

As an inspirational leader of thestructural engineering professionin Canada, Denis has led a 30-yeareffort to significantly improvethe safety and resilience ofCanada’s built infrastructure.

Denis has demonstrated to thestructural engineering professionthat, with deep enough understanding of the traditionalapproach to reinforced concretedesign, it can be replaced by design based on first principles.

His approach has met tremendous success and hasmade a significant difference toindustry.

As Chair of the Earthquake DesignProvisions Sub-Committee of theNational Building Code of Canadaand Chair of the Sub-Committeeon Seismic Design of the CanadianHighway Bridge Design Code, he isthe key structural engineer forthe Canadian seismic design

provisions of both buildings andbridges.

When the Concorde Bridge inLaval, Quebec collapsed in September 2006, Denis was appointed the lead structural engineer, providing experimentalinvestigation and expert testimony. His research has alsohelped to form the basis of design methods, adopted worldwide, that could withstandcatastrophic seismic events —from reinforcing floor slabs, toimproving the ductility andtoughness of concrete infrastructure.

As a civil engineering professor atMcGill University, Denis leads a research team that conductsnearly $800,000 of research peryear. For research concernedwith public safety rather than potential industry profit, this isan extraordinary level of researchactivity for a Canadian academicand is a tribute to Denis’s visionand leadership.

news & views

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Malcolm R. McGrathAchievement Award

2T5 Mid-Career Achievement Award

Davis Doan (CIV0T7)Awarded Posthumously

Throughout his life, Davis workedalongside staff and students tomake the world a better place.

The PhD student who passedaway on May 20, 2010 after avaliant struggle with cancer waslauded for his inspirational actions that touched hundreds oflives over the years.

Davis was a firm believer inhelping others in need and in2006, founded the student charitygroup Eyes of Hope. His workaided children living in developing countries and fundedthe construction of a school inAfrica. In a few short years, hemobilized more than two dozenvolunteers, raised over $20,000for three World Vision sponsorships, and helped to create an internship program forCivil Engineering students withHabitat for Humanity.

His success not only benefitedstrangers around the world, butalso students within the University by empowering volunteers to meet life’s challenges head on.

In four short years, Davis’ visionary leadership has changedthe lives of countless individualsboth inside and outside of theUniversity. The mark he left onthe world will be rememberedfor years to come.

Nick Caccavella(CIV8T6, MASc 8T9)

As Senior Vice President at Holcim(Canada) Inc., Nick oversees theOntario and Western Canada regions of one of the country’slargest vertically integrated building materials and construction companies.

Nick is helping to reshape theconstruction industry through hispassion for sustainable practices.

He actively fosters the principlesof the triple bottom line — valuecreation, sustainable environmen-tal performance and social re-sponsibility — to ensure there isbalance between stable economicgrowth, continual social progressand preservation of the environ-ment.

As a past Chair of the Ready MixedConcrete Association of Ontario(RMCAO), he championed ‘Eco Cer-tification’ in 2009, which will en-sure that by 2013, all ready-mixplants should be Eco Certified. Asa joint initiative with the OntarioMinistry of Environment, this cer-tification will provide customerswith assurance that the concretefacility, company and productsthey have selected were devel-oped responsibly using sound en-vironmental and sustainablepractices.

Under Nick’s leadership, DufferinConcrete equipped their entirefleet of more than 400 ready-mixtrucks with Enviroguard chutewashout systems as a means torecycle materials and water fromjob sites.

student news

12 | The Civilian

Scholars and Donors ReceptionOur annual event allows students the opportunity to thanktheir donors in person, forging a personal connection that addstemendous value to all our awards.

recipient to be simply irreplaceable.

It adds to the value of an awardtremendously – the student isable to catch some of the inspiration and passion thatprompted the gift, and the donoris able to see before them the immeasurable ways in which theirgift has helped a whole slate ofothers realize their dreams.

Remarks for the night includedthose from James Sproul (MIN1T3),who explained that the Lassonde

n one special evening earlierthis fall the Galbraith Building

was full of happy students andproud family members andfriends.

We were thrilled to be able tohost our scholarship donors andtheir recipients for a specialthank you event once again.

While a note or card is a touchingway to say thank you to someonewho has given much, we find thatthe kind of personal connection created between donor and

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Above: Four of the first five women inCivil Engineering were present to

meet their award recipients.

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Scholarship he had received fromDr. Pierre Lassonde meant he wasable to take a summer job thatprovided excellent networking opportunities and career skills development that he wouldnever have been able to matchelsewhere.

Such a job allowed him to declinea higher paying, but ultimatelyless satisfactory position elsewhere.

Amalia Kokkinaki (PhD Candidate)delivered a wonderful speech detailing our graduate students’passion for advancing engineering knowledge.

It left the crowd sure that thesame passion which drives thedonation of an award is carriedforward in the work studentscarry out through its assistance.

In that way, the award not onlyhelps the recipient directly, italso funds the creation of new engineering technology whichpotentially impacts the lives ofpeople around the world.

Four of the first five women tograduate the Civil Engineeringprogram were in attendance,having been honoured with a series of scholarships namedafter each of them.

It was a privilege to be able to seethem with their recipients, andto see the spirit of discoverypassed on between generations.

Prof. Emeritus Richard Soberman andAna Sasic (MASc Candidate), the

winner of the Soberman Fellowship,

Opposite: A group shot of all the Civiland Mineral Engineering award

donors and their recipients.

Brandon Jacobs (CIV1T5) with LouiPappas, Vice President, Business

Development at Morrison Hershfieldand Ruth Johns, donor of the Arthur

B. Johns Admission Scholarship.

class notes

14 | The Civilian

mobile source emissions have,until now, predominantly beenfocused on weekday activitytravel patterns and AM and PMpeak period traffic congestion.

But new research overseen byProf. Khandker M. Nurul Habibhere in the Department of CivilEngineering Transportation Research Group shows that

weekend travel demand shouldnot be ignored.

In fact, it’s becoming a concern interms of congestion, the environment, and public health.

Few studies have been conductedon the topic of weekend trafficand its associated emissions inCanada. One study, conducted inMontreal, examined the differences in weekday and weekend trip making behaviourand concluded that there are distinct differences between whythe two occur.

eekend traffic and its associated emissions are a

growing concern for the City ofToronto in light of increases intraffic congestion and pressureto meet greenhouse gas reduction targets.

However, as of yet, no systematicattempt has been made to investigate the implications ofweekend traffic for Torontomeeting its greenhouse gas (GHG)emission reduction targets of a6% decrease by 2012, a 30% reduction by 2020, and an 80% reduction by 2050 below 1990 levels.

Weekend travel emissions havelargely been overlooked as themajority of research on travel demand modelling and resulting

Working on the Weekend

Prof. Khandker Nurul Habib.Below: Toronto traffic on the evening

of Saturday, November 12, 2011.

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Prof. Khandker M. Nurul Habib and Carolyn Ardron (MAScCandidate) have discovered that weekend travel demand maypose a larger challenge for greenhouse gas reduction targetsthan previously thought.

class notes

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And it’s this question that finds uslacking: the emissions studiesconducted in Toronto have focused mainly on the dispersionof pollutants rather than the linkbetween an individual’s activitychoice and traffic related emissions.

In Calgary, the only city to haveincluded weekend information intheir large scale survey, researchers have found that thenumber of people using personalvehicles actually increases on theweekend from weekday levels.

Similar studies in the US havefound that the number of tripsoccurring on Saturdays and Sundays are approaching the levels typically recorded on weekdays and that weekendtrips, on average, are typicallylonger than weekday trips.

Studies conducted in Los Angelesalso concluded that the emissionspatterns associated with weekend behaviour favour theformation of ozone more so thanweekday travel behaviour.

In studies such as those occurringin Prof. Khandker’s labs, the totaltravel times reported for eachday of the week can be used toestimate the GHG emissions thatcan be attributed to these trips.

Using emissions factors describedin Toronto’s 2004 emissions inventory, it was determined thatweekend trips made by personalautos accounted for 25% of thetotal weekly emissions created bysuch trips, and amounts to approximately 6% of Toronto’stotal emissions.

Given that Toronto’s first target isa 6% reduction by 2012, the findings of the study hold significant importance in assessing Toronto’s ability toreach this goal.

The results of this study indicatethat further research regardingweekend travel behaviour is necessary to evaluate the transportation derived GHG emissions in Toronto and the implications they have forToronto reaching its emissionstargets.

The next step? To build upon existing transportation surveymethods and better incorporateweekend travel models into oururban transport infrastucture.

16 | The Civilian

class notes

Lassonde Institute Colloquia and CoursesThe Lassonde Institute for Mining is busy this academic yearwith Colloquia and Short Professional Development Courses.Learn how you can take part in one of the world’s foremostmining Institutes.

Institute workshops, courses orseminars send an email to TeresaMiniaci, miniaci@ecf.utoronto.caand ask to be put on the emaillist.

Previous Lassonde Institute Colloquia and professional development courses haveproven extremely successful thisseason.

Earlier presentations have focused on topics such as Measuring Soil Pressure, Investigating the Impacts of Underground Mass Mining on Surface Conditions, and Rock Failure Process Modelling andMonitoring.

he Lassonde Institute of Mining will be offering a one

day course on Mineral ProjectEvaluation in January 2012.

The course will provide anoverview on Canadian and international valuation standardsand methods for mineral properties and projects.

This course will be of interest togeo-scientists, mining engineers,qualified persons, corporate exec-utives, government officials, persons from regulatory bodies,analysts and consultants.

Course dates and registration details will be posted on the Lassonde Institute of Mining website: www.lassondeinstitute.utoronto.ca.

If you would like to receive infor-mation on upcoming Lassonde

Lassonde Institute for Mining

Professional Development

Course

Mineral Project Evaluation

January2012

seewww.lassondeinstitute.utoronto.ca

for more details.

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class notes

CSCE: Bridges to Hong KongSherif Kinawy (PhD Candidate) and Chandan Pujapanda(MEng Candidate) recently travelled to Hong Kong as part of aan official visit to the CSCE Hong Kong Branch.

Shamim Sheikh to invite the University of Toronto amongother Canadian universities tojoin them for an exchange forumin June in Hong Kong.

We joined Ryerson University in representing CSCE’s local Canadian chapters.

Our delegation was overwhelmedby the density of massive construction projects in the heartof downtown Hong Kong, orchestrated by joint partnerships between the localGovernment and internationalGeneral Contractors.

In a manner typical of many inquisitive civil engineers travel-ing to Hong Kong for the firsttime our goal was to tap into theingenuity behind the fast pacedinfrastructure projects there.

During visits to construction sites

CSCE chapter in Hong Kong: itcame as a surprise to us as

two Civil Engineering graduate students in Toronto.

But we soon realized the natureof the industry in Hong Kong promoted a significant level ofprofessional and academic exchange with Canada.

For one, many of the new graduates who work in HongKong have completed their degrees from Canadian Universities.

As we also found out later, several of the professors at HongKong Universities had spent sometime engaged in academic andprofessional work in Canada.

This exchange started when BillJin from Hong Kong Universityfor Science and Technology(HKUST) approached Professor

we had the opportunity to experience first-hand a fewunique techniques and disciplinesof civil engineering, such asdredging, land reclamation, slopestability, tunnel engineering, anddeep excavation.

We parted with promises to takeour collaboration further motivated by the shared beliefthat students who become engaged in CSCE at an early stagewould eventually develop to become more successful professionals upon graduation.

We look forward to future opportunities for collaborationand strongly recommend similarevents to other student chapters.

We would like to thank the Department of Civil Engineeringat HKUST for their invitation andhosting us during our stay inHong Kong.

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18 | The Civilian

milestones

and rural communities on the design and construction of infrastructure – roads, drainage,sanitation, water supply – thatwas sustainable and affordable in

capital and maintenance cost.

Letter: Correctingthe Record

was greatly honoured thatCivil Engineering has estab-

lished a scholarship in my nameas one of the first five women inCivil, and I was very pleased to beinvited to the Scholars andDonors Reception on October 26th.

At the reception I was thrilled tomeet three of the other "firstfive" women: Marcia LamontScott (Civ4T7), Marlene Metzger(Civ6T0), and Margaret Kende(Civ6T0). Also at the receptionhowever I realized I had made ahuge error and I am writing nowto correct the record. In the lastCivilian you published my story ofmy engineering uncles telling meI would never find a job in engineering and me being triumphant because one of theother four women in Civil, Marlene Metzger, helped me geta real engineering job that summer after first year.

When I met Marlene Metzger andMargaret Kende at the reception Irealized immediately that I hadgot the names mixed up and thatthe woman who had got me thejob all those years ago was Margaret Kende. May I apologizeto both Margaret and Marlene forthis and offer my most sincerethanks once again to Margaret.

Sue Joel (Civ 6T5)

Three Grad StudentsWin Traffic BowlTitle, 2nd in Worlds

arlier this year Mohamed Mahmoud, Keith Cochrane

and Aarshabh Misra (all PhD Candidates) were in Halifax representing the UofT ITE StudentChapter in the Traffic Bowl at theCanadian Institute of Transportation Engineers (CITE)Annual Conference.

The intense intellectual jeopardystyle battle required knowledge,timing, and creativity.

They won, beating the Universityof Manitoba and University of NewBrunswick in a tense finalmatchup.

They represented Canada at theworld Traffic Bowl finals in St.Louis, taking a close second place.

Congratulations, guys!!!

Prof. Will Bawden’sRetirement Party

fter a long and storied careerProf. Bawden is set to hang

up his robes for the last time.

Though he does not officiallyreitre until next year, plans are already afoot for a celebration inhis honour.

If you would like to receive further notifications about theplanned event for Prof. Bawden,please visit our website atwww.civ.utoronto.ca and click on“News + Events.”

Anna Dunets Wills(CIV7T6) Wins PEOCitizenship Award

ongratulations to AnnaDunets Wills on winning the

2011 Citizenship Award from Professional Engineers of Ontario!

Anna received her Bachelor ofApplied Science degree in Civil Engineering from the Universityof Toronto in 1976. She workedwith Frontiers Foundation overtwo summers while still a student, honing her engineeringskills as a leader of teams thatbuilt log and frame homes inremote First Nations communities in British Columbiaand Alberta. Those experiencesshaped her professional ethics, including her deep respect forthe communities in which sheworks. After graduation, Anna applied her engineering know-how with those ethics inseveral Southern African urban

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Prof. Will Bawden.

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milestones

society of professionals in theCanadian minerals, metals, materials and energy industries.

During its Annual General Meetingin Montreal on May 22nd, 2011,the Rock Engineering Society(RES) elected Professor John Hadjigeorgiou of the Lassonde Institute for Mining as its newChair.

The Rock Engineering Society promotes the development andapplication of geomechanicswithin the context of the miningindustry in order to support safeand economically viable extraction.

U of T and York UShare $3.6 Millionfor TransportationResearch

project led by Prof. AlbertoLeon-Garcia in Electrical and

Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto has beengranted $3,675,000.00 from theOntario Research Fund.

This project will involve researchers from York University,IBM Canada, G4 Apps and will alsoinclude Prof. Baher Abdulhai andother staff and students from theTransportation Engineering Research Group in the Department of Civil Engineeringat the University of Toronto.

Their project will focus on smartinfrastructures and applicationsfor connected vehicles and trans-portation systems. The re-searchers hope to develop anopen applications platform that

will help improve the safety andefficiency of our roadways andhelp promote sustainable transportation technologies.

Prof. Susan Andrews WinsOWWA George Warren FullerAward

Prof. Susan Andrews of the Environmental Engineering Research Group was recentlynamed the 2011 recipient of theOntario Water Works Association'sGeorge Warren Fuller Award.

George Warren Fuller Awards arepresented annually by the OntarioWater Works Association to thesections' respective selectedmembers for their distinguishedservice to the water supply fieldin commemoration of the soundengineering skill, the brilliantdiplomatic talent, and the constructive leadership whichcharacterized the life of GeorgeWarren Fuller.

Susan's research focuses on waterquality and chemistry in watertreatment processes and distribution systems, novel andemerging byproducts of potential health concern and UVand solar disinfection methods ofdrinking water treatment.

Trivia: Prof. Susan Andrews is married to Prof. Robert Andrews,who previously won the GeorgeWarren Fuller Award for longtimeachievement in 2009. They arethe first couple to have won theaward in the history of theOWWA!

Water Group Receives over $3Million from OntarioResearch Fund

he Ontario Research Fund hasinvested $3,213,700.00 in Prof.

Brent Sleep's Research Group toundertake a project that will investigate innovative combinedtreatment technologies for remediating contaminatedgroundwater.

Contaminated industrial and commercial sites here and abroadrepresent a significant economicopportunity.

But redeveloping them is a challenge because currentcleanup techniques are expensiveand time consuming.

At the University of Toronto Dr.Brent Sleep is developing innovative water treatment technologies to restore theseproperties, research that will helpto put Ontario companies at theleading edge of the fast growing

site redevelopment market.

Prof. John HadjigeorgiouElected to CIM andRES

Professor John Hadjigeorgiouwas recently elected to the

Council of the Canadian Instituteof Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM). Founded in 1898,CIM is the leading technical

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Issue 12 - December 2011

Edited by Nelly Pietropaolo

Written and Designed by Colin Anderson

Questions and comments, please contact:

Colin AndersonCommunications & Student Programs Coordinator

Department of Civil Engineering

35 St. George Street, Toronto, M5S 1A4

(416) 978-0945

colin@civ.utoronto.ca

Publications mail agreement #40062475

Students in CIV201 -- Introduction to Civil Engineering, get their firsttaste of major engineering projects like the Kirkfield Lift Locks.

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